Legacy Migration: Integrate...then migrate

Diminishing skills mainframe skills. BPM and SOA initiatives driving evalaution of newer application architectures. Strong vendor programs from Oracle and Microsoft aimed directly at mainframe. All of these factors help drive organizations to consider mainframe migration. Whether you integrate or migrate, HostBridge can help.

Thinking about mainframe migration? We hear that a lot. Who can blame you? Technology alternatives are maturing, it's harder to find people with mainframe experience, maintenance costs continue to be a thorn in your side, and companies like Oracle are daring you not to take free software in return for a little assistnace in your move to the middle tier. If you are running extremely high transaction volumes, these temptations may have no effect. However, if you are planning your exit, HostBridge can make the transition easier.

Before you begin...

...know what you have. Take the time to implement an Application Portfolio Management (APM) strategy to help identify legacy applications for retirement or migration. This should be a two-phased analysis that determines which applications feed into new business processes and determines the interconnectedness of key mainframe applications. Applications that feed the business and the secondary applications that connect to them are migration candidates. Applications that do not feed the business are candidates for retirement.

Take the time to do it right

It took decades to build the legacy systems that run your business, so do not be hasty in your retreat. Understand your legacy applications and evaluate the business drivers for the move to a new platform. It takes time to choose a new architecture, find the talent to put the new architecture in place, and convince your organization that the new architecture is needed. In our experience, you should expect an effective migration strategy to take at least three to five years to complete.

Get tomorrow's architecture today

One of the goals of migration is to include mainframe application business logic in modern architectures using XML and Web services. Because HostBridge immediately allows your CICS applications to participate in service-oriented architectures (SOA), you can build out your architecture during the migration. After the new applications have been adequately tested, it is easy to call the newly developed services and take the legacy systems out of the loop.